“Prevailed upon by my Camenae Cytherea delivered him into my arms on trust” (3.13.3-4)

Also relies on powerful element of realisme.g. 3.14 requests that Messalla allow her to celebrate her birthday in the cityEncountering SulpiciaPoems attributed to Sulpicia found in Book Three of TibullusAn overview of Book Three:1-6: final stages of relationship with mistress called Neaera (poet calls himself Lygdamus)7: panegryic to Messalla in his consulate year (31BC) in hexameter8-18: love of Sulpicia and Cerinthus (from a variety of perspectives)8-12: change speaker; use mythological subjects13-18: much shorter; more spontaneous; closer to epigrammatic form of Catullus3.19: infidelity of an unnamed mistress (poet calls himself Tibullus)3.20: short elegy on hurtfulness of gossipIn Renaissance 7-20 often separated in fourth bookAuthorshipLygdamus - derived from Greek translation of Tibullus’ family name (Albius Tibullus)? albus = white; lygdinos = marble-whiteCommon consensus = ‘four poets and a poetess’ (Holzberg):1-6: Lygdamus7: anonymous8-12: sympathetic friend of Sulpicia13-18: Sulpicia19-20: pseudo-TibullusThree recent theories on the authorship of Sulpicia poemsHolzberg (2001): poetic joke by single Flavian male authorsee also Tränkle (1990)Hallett (2002): female authorship - all poems mentioning Sulpicia by Augustan Sulpicia Hubbard (2004): two cycles of Sulpicia poems written by male author as presents for a wedding and the following wedding anniversary (possibly for wedding of Sulpicia herself)Implications of each of those theories

Internal evidence from poems themselves:3.16.4: claims she is the daughter of ServiusServius Sulpicius married to Valeria, sister of Messalla Sulpicia = Messalla’s nieceFits with idea of Hauspoetenbuch (Book Three as a collection of poems all from members of Messalla’s literary circle)Tibullus as supervisor to Sulpicia and the memory box theory

3.13 as programmatic statementMixed message? Disclosure vs concealmentWants to tell the world about her love:

"At last has come a love which it would disgrace me more to hide out of shame than expose to someone" (3.13.1-2)

But doesn’t actively tell the world; urges it be said:

"My joys can be the talk of all those who have none of their own" (3.13.5-6)

Appears to negotiate a position of telling and not telling; combines outspokenness with passivityBoth like and unlike her male counterpartsUnique perspective as both subject and object of erotic discourse8 poems in 1st person (3.9, 3.11, 3.13-18)3 poems in 3rd person (3.8, 3.10, 3.12)Sulpicia is also a scripta puella: in 3.8 narrator fantasises about her in different attire:

"She burns one if she opts to appear in Tyrian robes;she burns one if she arrives dressed in snow white."

Element of male fantasy here: womanufacture Metapoetic element to the different versions of dress

2 poems on same subject: Sulpcia's illness 3.17 Sulpicia’s version:

"Do you feel real concern, Cerinthus, for your girlnow that a fever afflicts my tired body?Ah, I would not choose to conquer the wretched illnessUnless I thought that you wished it.What should I gain by conquering illness if youCan bear my suffering with a cold heart?" (3.17)

Illness as metaphor for love; recognisable feature of elegyReluctance to be cured (the end of poetry)Poem is plea for confirmation of Cerinthus’ loveCerinthus as durus (like Gallus' Lycoris)

Same theme from a different perspective3.10: Concerned friend of Sulpicia tries to take action, invoking Apollo:

"Believe me, hurry, Phoebus, and you will not regretlaying healing hands on beauty.Make sure those pale limbs do not waste awayand no bad colour marks her fair body" (3.10.5-6)

Objectifies elegiac lover through use of her body (but cf. 3.17.2 where she also mentions her body)Cerinthus is not cold-hearted, but concerned (3.10.15)Sulpicia looks like dura puella in her anger (3.10.21-2)

The response to SulpiciaNone of the male elegists mention Sulpicia by nameBut Ovid Amores 3.14 = criticism of unnamed woman too open about her sexual misbehaviourEmphasis on the woman’s words and their circulation in public – points to poetry?Repeatedly employs words used by Sulpicia in 3.13 (e.g. fama and peccare)Criticises realism and humiliation it brings to poet and lover alike – double-standardSulpician NarrativeFragmentary narrativeLimited opportunity for storytelling on account of epigrammatic brevity of poemsNevertheless, attempts to piece together novel-like story (e.g. Skoie, 2008)8-18 follows story: initial infatuation to suspicion and disillusionment‘Non-narrated story’; events related through showing rather than telling (mimetic rather than diegetic)

Discover Cerinthus’ infidelity not because we’re told, but because of evidence of 3.16:

Passer-by. Observe the ashes of Sulpicia the lectrix/the lectrix of Sulpicia,to whom the slave-name ‘Petale’ had been given.She had lived thrice ten years plus four,and on earth, she had brought forth a son, Aglaos (‘glorious’);She had seen all the good things of nature, and was strong in artistry;she was splendid in beauty, and had grown [mature] in intellect.Envious Fortune was unwilling that she should spend a long time in life:the Fates’ distaff itself failed them.